Festival web site launches a brave new era
of marketing opportunity
Within two years, film buyers across the world will be using the internet to download and watch clips from the films they intend to view in Cannes, before flying to the market, according to Zenith Data Systems marketing communications director, Chris Simmonds.
And Simmonds warns that sellers are likely to miss out on potentially vast business opportunities by not exploiting the full business-to-business potential of the information superhighway. «By focusing attention on how they can exploit the home user-end of the digital revolution, but ignoring the potential business-to-business opportunities of new communication vehicles like the internet, many sellers are ignoring a potentially lucrative sales avenue,» he said.
Zenith runs the official internet feed for the 48th Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d'Or server, which by Thursday 18 May had received 30,000 accesses for information from around the world.
«With rapid developments in computer technology keeping pace, the potential for marketing is vast, especially when with each access you automatically get a potential customer's electronic address.
«An increasing number of majors are using the internet to market their films. Sony New Technologies will launch its new cyberspace adventure Johnny Mnemonic, based on the William Gibson cyberpunk classic in Cannes with a on-line interactive game. More of the same will follow.
DAVID Jenkinson
